Votto will get a day off -- just not quite yet

CHICAGO -- Dusty Baker wouldn't mind giving Joey Votto a day off. But it begs the question: How do you find time to rest your first baseman when you're chasing the best team in the league (the Cardinals), and he's hitting .389 over the course of a five-game hitting streak?

"I'm going to give him a day off," Baker said. "It's just that I'm getting tired of people asking, to tell you the truth. When I see his performance slow down and I see his bat slow down, then that's when I'll give him a day off."

On Tuesday, Votto collected two RBIs and scored two runs in a game for the third time this year, thanks in part to a third inning two-run homer. Entering Wednesday's 2-1 win, he was hitting .341 with three doubles, two homers and five RBIs in 11 games against the Cubs this season. He went 0-for-4 with a strikeout on Wednesday.

Votto has started each of the Reds' 66 games this season.

"You look at all the guys in history, the guys that have played on consecutive days or streaks, other than Cal Ripken, most of them are first basemen," Baker said. "An outfielder runs a mile every day back and forth to his position. At [Wrigley Field], a first baseman runs about five yards. So it's different. But I'm going to give him a day."